


Twisted Lines and Tragic Lives

by ManiacProductions



Category: X-Men (Movies)
Genre: In a good way though, Male-Female Friendship, Not writing accents, Painting, Piotr is nosy, Rogue's psyches influence her, Secret Talent, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 23:29:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2365955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManiacProductions/pseuds/ManiacProductions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't normally look at the other paintings that littered the floor of the art room, but this one was different. </p><p>It called to him, and he just had to see it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twisted Lines and Tragic Lives

**Author's Note:**

> An old story from my Fan Fiction account (under the same name). I've revised this though and am now posting it here.

Piotr looked at the painting lying against the wall. Normally Piotr wouldn't take much notice in the random artworks that were all over the art room, but something about this particular piece called to him. Maybe it was because it wasn't like any of the other paintings he had seen in the art room before. 

The painting was unique and rather interesting, very unlike the normal paintings that surrounded the school's art room. Normal paintings done by the other residents were bright and colorful filled with joyful and happy pictures, something the teachers all recommended and encouraged. Instead though, this one was dark in color and subject. Piotr was almost certain that the teachers wouldn't have assigned subject matter like this as class work or homework. 

The picture was a painted picture of a destroyed house; the colors dark and shadows loomed ominously all around. The walls were missing chunks of it, windows were shattered, the lawn was burnt and iced in parts, but what stood out the most was the young brunette girl standing in front of the destroyed house.

She was young, eight at most; covered in cuts, bruises, blood, and dirt from her head to her toes. Her dress, which at one time would've been bright white, was dingy, ripped, tattered, and covered in dirt and blood as well. Her shoulder length hair hung limply against her pale sunken in face, looking unwashed and painfully tangled. It was tucked behind her ears revealing bright green eyes that looked dead. Emotionless eyes that stared into his soul and left him feeling exposed and raw.

"It's the last in the series." A delicate southern feminine voice said from behind him, speaking quietly as if to preserve the silence that surrounded them. Piotr abruptly turned around and stared Rogue straight in the eyes, seeing those same green eyes stare at him outside of the painting. The only difference between the child in the painting and the girl he stared at was the mask they showed the world around them. 

She just stood looking at him, not saying anything; she was just staring.

"I forgot to put it up, I meant to it with the others, Charles called me into his office." Rogue said and Piotr nodded and looked at the painting once more. He, unlike some of the other of their peers, wasn't put off or annoyed by Rogue's use of Professor Xavier's first name.

"May I see the rest?" Piotr asked politely trying not to seem imposing or rude as he looked at her in interest. The portrait was rather beautiful and he wanted to know if the others were as nice, of course if this one was anything to go by then they were. "If it is not any trouble." Piotr added on and Rogue shrugged indifferently. She gracefully walked over to the locked painting cage, something every student who painted in their free time had, and pulled out a key from her pocket. She unlocked the cage, Rogue pulled out four other paintings from it. From where he stood, the Russian could see other paintings hiding away from the sight of others. 

"Losing Liberty." Rogue announced showing Piotr the first in the series and drawing his attention back to the southern belle and her artwork series. As he looked at the first piece in her art series.

A broken Statue of Liberty greeted him, the torch was shattered into pieces around the a familiar figure. White flames danced around the rim of the broken torched, surrounding the now grown young woman who stood tall. Two mechanical arms, connected to a platform under the woman, were handcuffed to her wrists and forcefully held her in place.

Something struck Piotr as familiar as he admired the painting. He frowned, but then his expression broke as it clicked in his mind. He now knew why it looked so familiar. Two words sprung to his mind, words that were spoken in hushed tones around the school when anyone spoke about Rogue and when she first came to the school.

Ellis Island.

An incident that caused mass panic around the world, but especially within New York. He remembered that night very well, most everyone in the mansion did. Professor Xavier was in a coma, their "guest" had died, the teachers were all frantic yet acting faking calm, and their newest student -at the time- had apparently been kidnapped. Then something usual happened, something that had set all the older students on edge.

In the middle of the night, Dr. Grey had urgently called them to the main hall to speak. When Piotr, Kitty, Bobby, and John had arrived, Jean had told them to watch the younger students. Nothing was explained to the four as Dr. Grey had already ran off to the elevator.

Then it happened, a white ball of energy had surrounded the torch apart of Lady Liberty. Before Piotr could think anymore about the Ellis Island incident, Rogue had put the painting down and had presented another one to him.

"Losing Innocence." This painting was even darker then the previous one, taking place in a muddy rainy street filled with people. Piotr glanced at Rogue, to see the expression on her face as she looked at her own creation. She eyes seemed to have turned even colder, if that was even possible, revealing nothing to him. Turning his attention back to the painting, Piotr took in every detail. 

People were dressed in rags and cloaks with yellow stars painted on their clothing, standing behind a huge metal gate. On one side of the large gate was the young girl being dragged by a group of uniformed men, one of her arms stretched towards the gate as if she was trying to grab it and pull herself towards it. Piotr looked closer at the gate and noticed the slight bend at the top of the gate that traveled towards the young woman. Her mouth was opened in a silent scream and guards in the background, Nazi uniforms Piotr noted, were running trying to stop her. Mud splashed from where the guards feet hit the ground as the girl's tears mingled with the rain. Piotr had to admit, Rogue had an eye for detail. 

"Losing Memories." Was the next one she presented to him and as Piotr looked up at her face, he finally saw something in her guarded eyes. Empathetic pained eyes seemed to stare at the painting her hands before it was pushed down and hidden away. Filling it away for later, Piotr now looked at the third painting of her series.

This painting was just as dark in subject matter, however the painting itself was a mix of dark colors and bright splotches. Again Piotr spotted the common denominator between all the paintings he's seen so far. A beautiful brunette in the center of some kind of tragedy. 

This time the girl laid in a long tube with needles piercing her skin at what looked like random points on her body. Emerald eyes were opened and filled with pain and misery, but her mouth was shut rightly as she refused to screen. She looked dirty again, her hair was clumped together and floating around her in the tube. A large container to the side of the girl's tube had a long pipe that connected to the machine that fed into the needles.

The container held some kind of silver substance the appeared to be boiling, if the bubbles she painted were anything to go by. Scientists stood in various places around her, some with clipboards and others monitoring machines. Unlike her other paintings though, none of them had distinctions like the Nazi's and Jews or the girl. Theses people, the scientists were hidden within the shadows or some of them had something to hide themselves from the viewer of the painting.

"Losing Family" Just a look at the painting, Piotr could tell that it was different. It's subject was dark, something that seemed to be a constant in Rogue's series was bright, but the the strokes were angry and blazing. Colors exploded on this canvas, bright and friendly seeming at first glance but looking at it closer the colors were a warning to stay away.

A bright happy blue house that looked like a typical home stood burning as an angry fire blazed all around the painting. The same girl sat on the lawn in front of the house, a look of horror and awe presented on her face. The girl looked only around fifteenth, her burnt clothes covered in ash. Another woman banged on a window in the burning house, horror on her face too though there was also the acceptance of death in her eyes. The front door was opened and fire was escaping the house and rushing out strait to the girl, as if they wished to become one with her. As Piotr took a closer look at her, he realized that she wasn't looking at the house, but was instead staring at the flames that made their way to her.

"The last one in the series, Losing Peace." Rogue said looking at the original picture that started this one sided show and tell. As Piotr looked back at the painting, he realized several things about this painting.

The faded broken house was from Losing Family, her white dress from Losing Liberty, the dirt and blood was from Losing Innocence, and her ragged appearance was from Losing Memory. Rogue had done something amazing with this last painting, with this whole series, with all of the detail she put into it and with how captivating they are.

Piotr turned and looked at all the paintings, a new understanding filling him. He, along with the other the Junior X-Men, knew about Rogue's powers and how she kept all the memories from those she adsorbed. Not long ago she had said that she had lived longer than they had and now he understood what she meant.

Through the torture of others, she had lived so many years; she had lived through them, lived through their pain and happiness.

Piotr turned to look back at Rogue only to find her gone, her paintings left their for him along with a spare key to her painting locker for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Also I made up Pyro's past in this.


End file.
